The Alpha's Cub
by ThatOneHybrid
Summary: Jacob Black has no clue what to do when he is given the custody of his sister's baby after she passes away. He has responsibilities to his pack, tribe, and now to this precious little being that depends solely on him so when help comes along he's going to hold onto it with both hands and not let go.
1. Prologue

_The Alpha's Cub_

_1. Prologue_

_Author's Note- I've wanted to write a story like this for quite some time so I do hope you like it. Don'tcallmeleelee did the banner for this story (see cover image).  
><em>

Thunder rumbled outside a small house along with its friend lightning brightening up the darkened sky. The howling wind thrashed through the trees causing the long limbs to sway from side to side. Heavy rain pelted against the roof as if the sky wept. A man sat in a white, rickety rocking chair in a nursery. He was dressed in a white formal shirt with the tie crinkled from being loosened in haste. His black dress pants already mussed from the day's events. In his arms a baby swathed in a rich red blanket sleeping her steady breathing heard in the shadowy room accompanied by the raging storm outside.

Jacob rocked back and forth in the chair to help keep his little niece asleep. It hadn't taken long for the baby to drift off, but he continued to rock. It also soothed Jake with its repetitive movements after everything that happened.

They buried his sister today. Rachel was gone.

He could still remember with perfect clarity when it was his turn to sprinkle dirt on Rachel. He had to say goodbye to her for the last time that afternoon. Jacob would never again be able to tell her he loved her and how happy it made him when she finally come home to La Push. They hadn't had a close relationship. She had been older than him and both his twin sisters had left him and his father as soon as they were able to. It created a chasm between them that continued to grow the more time passed.

Jacob breathed out a shaky breath as another tear rolled down his face and he didn't bother to wipe it away. He thought he cried all the tears his body could produce, but he was wrong. It wasn't just the grief of losing his sister that affected him. It was also the connection to the one pack member that was so adversely pained by Rachel's death.

Paul Lahote, her husband and the father of the baby girl in his arms.

It had been a nightmare ever since Rachel passed away bare moments after delivering her. Jacob remembered having to wrestle Paul out of the room while his daughter wailed at the top of her lungs. He had barely gotten Paul into the forest before his brother-in-law phased. He would never forget the day she died or the mournful howls filling the early morning as the pack grieved for their lost sister. Paul tore into the forest, destroying everything in his path. He was inconsolable, and every wolf felt his anguish as it spread from his mind into theirs.

He was the alpha and, moreover, he was Jacob's brother in every way that mattered, so he blocked his own sorrow away to run with Paul. They ran to Canada and left Sam, his beta, in charge of La Push. He couldn't be there for Billy and that hurt him, too. Jacob, faced with a difficult decision, of choosing between comforting his Father or Paul. He chose his brother knowing he needed him more.

He eventually was able to get his pack mate to turn around and head back home. Jacob felt Paul shut down within his own mind on the way back. Paul stopped at a wooded area just outside First Beach and remained there for two days, unable to phase back. Paul retreated into the darkness of his mind where the pack could no longer reach him. Jacob made sure there was always a wolf with Paul. For a long time time, Jared rested against him, his wolf rubbing against Paul's flank from time to time, as if begging him to come back. Jared and Sam were the closest to Paul as the three of them had bonded over being first to phase.

Jacob had to step up and help his Dad plan out the funeral arrangements. He didn't have to worry right away about the baby as she wasn't cleared to be taken home at the time. The imprints and Leah made sure one of them was always there to be with her. He lost a lot of sleep trying to hold his family and pack together. There still were dark circles under his eyes from exhaustion.

Jacob's brother-in-law couldn't bear to see his daughter. He left with just a note saying he couldn't do it and he was sorry. There were alcohol bottles littering the floor where he tried to drown his sorrows. He couldn't find it in himself to alpha command Paul to stay. He needed to take this time and, though he'd like to think he would be back in a few weeks or maybe a couple months, something told him it was wishful thinking. Paul Lahote was not coming back for his own daughter, his last connection to Rachel.

The issue of who would be granted custody came up after his disappearance. Rebecca came home for the funeral determined to take their niece home with her to Hawaii, but Jacob put down his foot. His human side thought it was a good idea since she already had a family of her own, but the alpha had already declared her his cub. He couldn't bear to part from her. She had been adopted by his wolf and that was final. He could still remember the fight with his sister and now they weren't talking.

Jacob sighed, rising with care from the rocking chair. He looked around the old guest room. The pack worked wonders while he took care of other matters. There was a reddish brown crib with wolves carved into the bars, and there was even a matching changing table. Flowers were painted on the dresser with painstaking care. The walls were a bright cheery yellow with a forest covering the wall directly in front of him. It had all the wolves in their varying colors leaping over each other or playing hide and seek in the trees. Brady created this work of art. His pack wanted to give this baby the best start despite the circumstances of her birth. She was already very loved by everyone.

He walked out into the hallway still cradling his niece and into his room. There was a white bassinet off to the side of his bed. Jacob was told she needed to sleep in the same room as him so he could get up with her for her nightly feedings. This was the first night he would have her on his own. If he hadn't been so tired he might have been more nervous to be her sole caretaker, but as it was he couldn't muster the energy for it.

He put her down to sleep in the bassinet while humming a lullaby his mother used to sing to him when it looked like she might wake. Jacob watched the steady rise and fall of her chest with the sound of her heartbeat filling the room as the song came to a close. He breathed in deeply letting her milky scent wash over him to reassure his wolf that his cub was fine.

Rachel didn't get the chance to name her, because she thought that once she saw her she would know what to call her. It had driven Paul nuts when she had said that. So Jacob didn't have a name for her that Rachel had picked so he had chosen Elizabeth since it was Rachel's middle name as to honor her Mother. He had decided on Johanna because it was his Mom's middle name. Two strong independent women. He hoped he could raise Elizabeth to be as strong as them.

Elizabeth Johanna Black would always be loved and protected.

Jacob would make sure of it.

_Author's Note- I'm new to posting my writing so any reviews would be welcomed._


	2. Chapter 1

_The Alpha's Cub_

_2. The First Night_

Jacob blinked bleary eyes open when whimpering turned into cries woke him from his exhausted slumber. Rubbing at his eyes to wake himself up more he rolled out of bed to take care of his charge. His wolf was pleased with taking care of her, but inwardly he was panicking hoping that he didn't screw this up.

"Alright, alright, I'm up, little one." He smothered a yawn, and reached into the bassinet to pick Elizabeth up. Tentatively sniffing the air to make sure she didn't need a diaper change, and to his relief it wasn't necessary this time. Yes, he knew eventually he would have to do it, but he could still be relieved when it wasn't needed.

Jake cradled her close to her chest as he crooned softly to her as he walked down the hallway towards the kitchen to heat up a bottle. Her cries filling the silent house and ringing in his ears, but still he continued to hum under his breath. He set about warming a pan of water so that he could warm her bottle. Emily stressed to him to never, ever heat a bottle in the microwave.

As the water was heating up, he paced back and forth in the small space of his kitchen holding her against his chest. When the water was heated he took out a premade bottle of formula, and set it in the water.

"I've got ya, Elizabeth. I know you're hungry, but the bottle can only heat so fast."

The sound of his deep voice must have had a soothing effect because she was calming slowly so he kept talking to her. He refused to baby talk to her, because one he's tired and had no patience for it. The other reason, he would feel silly. He'd save the baby talk for later if he ever chose to.

Jacob checked the formula on his wrist to make sure it wasn't too hot for his little cub. It was just right. He took a seat on the sofa in the living room after grabbing a kitchen towel from the rack on the oven. He cradled her in his left arm while his right carefully guided the bottle to the correct position for her to feed. She rooted around the teat for a moment until she latched on suckling hungrily.

"That's better, blissful silence." Jake grinned down at her.

He looked up at the clock on the wall seeing it was a little after three in the morning. "I have a feeling I won't be getting much sleep for a while, huh?"

Elizabeth's only response was the suckling noises, and moving her little feet against his arm.

"I thought you would say that."

Not much later she was spitting out the teat from her mouth. Jacob placed the bottle on the coffee table in front of him. "How do I do this again?" He asked himself placing the kitchen towel over his shoulder. Grumbling softly he carefully brought the baby to his shoulder being careful not to drop her and to support her. His big hand gently as if afraid to break her patted her back.

"That's a little gross," he wrinkled his nose when a little bit of formula came back up with her burp, "fuck it smells too." Jacob had a feeling that he was going to hate his sensitive sense of smell for the foreseeable future. The towel joined the bottle on the table in front of him so he could put it to wash when he settled the baby to sleep once more.

He stood up from the couch pacing up and down the hallway that stretched from the back of the house to the living room and kitchen. The house itself was a one story home with three bedrooms and one bathroom. It was passed down to him through one of his Aunt's passing away. It was right up against the forest making it perfect for his pack responsibilities.

The gentle motions were making Elizabeth's dark eyes blink tiredly up at him, and only succumbing to sleep when he made a sound that could be described as his wolf purring. He put her back into the bassinet, and stretched listening to his back cracking in several places. The temptation to crawl into bed right away was huge, but he had to clean up the things he used for feeding Elizabeth. He did not want the smell of the rest of the milk that she didn't drink sitting out in his living room. With great reluctance he left his bedroom to clean everything up.

Hopefully he could get a little more shut eye before she inevitably woke him up again.

XxxXxxXxxXxxX

Jacob sat on the back porch of his house drinking his second cup of coffee. It was really too bad that his body burned off the caffeine so quickly that it barely had the time to give him any energy. Even if he drank directly from the pot it would be as ineffective as alcohol was on werewolves bodies. It was so disappointing, and made for crappy mornings when he was running on so little sleep.

The storm last night left a warm, humid morning and little water droplets fell from green summer leaves. Birds were chirping from their perches in the trees, and Jacob could hear the faint sound of the waves at La Push if he really pushed his hearing since his home was close to it. What really had his attention was the steady breaths coming from his room where Elizabeth was sleeping. She had woken him two hours after the first time for a diaper change, and it was as disgusting as he knew it would be, maybe more so.

Jacob should probably be used to not sleeping the whole night like when he was on patrol at night. But he made up his rest the next day by conking out for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. Unfortunately he couldn't do it because he was a parent now.

"Alpha Jacob is a Daddy." Jake still couldn't quite believe it. The title really hadn't sunk in yet. He drained the rest of the coffee getting up to head back inside. He needed to get ready for the day, because he would be taking Elizabeth to Sam's place so Emily could take care of her while he fulfilled his responsibilities that didn't involve his automobile repair shop. For the next month he would let Embry run it for him so he could be there for the baby. She was too little to not have his constant care.

Jacob planned to host a pack meeting, and visit his Dad. The pack needed to discuss what was going to happen now that Paul left. He'd go to Billy's afterwards to make sure he was doing okay even if Sue and Charlie are there helping him.

Jacob yawned.

'Maybe Emily will watch her long enough for me to have a nap later,' he thought, 'parenting was tiring. Really it had only been one night. How did people do it?'

No matter how sleepy or cranky he didn't regret having Elizabeth with him.

"For you Rachel, I will give up sleep and anything else to take of your daughter." He promised hoping his sister wherever she was heard him.

_Author's Note- The response to this story astounds me. Thank you!_


End file.
